Barcelona

A weekend spent in Spain with my beautiful wife…can there be anything better? Me thinks not!

We got in very, very late Friday night (read: Saturday morning) thanks to a flight delay (oh Ryan Air- I’d like to thank you for the incredibly cheap fares, but I couldn’t be more happy to say goodbye to an airline!!) as well as a real first- a cab driver that didn’t just obey the speed limit, but actually drove about 20 kilometers under the limit. Although I’m sure we could have rustled up some dinner and surely had some drinks at 2am when we finally got into Barcelona proper, because Spaniards like Argentineans are insane night owls…we were wiped and couldn’t wait to get into the bed.

We got a late start to our day on Saturday and didn’t really care. More than killing ourselves trying to see everything we just wanted an enjoyable weekend together. We had coffee at a café around the corner and hopped on the “hop on, hop off” bus to get a feel for the city…







Barcelona is beautiful and much larger and spread out that I expected. When we grew tired of riding we hopped off (cause that’s what you do- hop onhop off) and had some lunch before getting our first taste of Gaudi. We chose to do the Casa Batllò…







It really was a feast for your eyes and neither of us expected to like it so much. I had thought Gaudi was so over the top that it would be interesting to see his work, but I left a true fan.

We then hopped back on and went over to Parc Güell for some outdoor Gaudi…





It was a chilly ride back and we were grateful for the late dinner times to have time to thaw out before heading out for dinner in the Barri Gòtic. Long and delicious I could seriously move to Spain just for their dining culture alone.

We were out much earlier on Sunday to fight the hordes at the Sagrada Famìlia. The line was well around the block just moments after it opening. The girl in front of us was so annoyed at its slow pace that she convinced her boyfriend that they should leave “You’ve seen one church, you’ve seen them all. Right?”

Although I had no way of knowing at the time, but that girl had just made one colossal mistake.

Holy holiness…I know I said this about Notre Dame, but seriously if you can enter the Sagrada Famìlia (or even just see its exterior) and not feel the awesomeness that is your higher power then, well, you’re blind.

Even though it’s still under construction it is, by far, the most beautiful church I’ve ever seen and maybe the most incredible manmade structure I’ve ever had the pleasure to explore…








There is no way to do it justice. You have to just see it and all its magnificent detail and uniqueness. It is unlike anything else I’ve ever seen and a true masterpiece by a true master. I wanted to go give back the Euro I saved by showing my bus ticket to help them with the construction funding. I just pray it is finished in my lifetime.

After we finished reveling in the wonder that is the Sagrada Famìlia we walked down to Barcelona’s Arc de Triomf...




We found a little restaurant nearby and proceeded to have a late and leisurely lunch in the glorious Spanish sunshine before making our way back to the hotel, the airport and eventually Dublin.

Barcelona was everything I hoped it would be and more. I only wish we could have stayed longer...like forever.

This weekend we’ll be visiting the inside of an airplane. Seriously though, we’ve got a long haul ahead of us and I’m sure some gnarly jetlag in our future. Can’t wait to get to Tokyo though…just wish we could somehow take Ireland with us.